Author Topic: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?  (Read 568625 times)

HappierAtHome

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #400 on: September 29, 2017, 08:52:31 PM »
Baby is wearing cloth nappies and hand-me-downs.
We're eating leftovers and minimising food waste.
Won't be driving anywhere today.

HappierAtHome

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #401 on: September 30, 2017, 03:15:43 AM »
Started the process of mulching my potted plants to assist with water retention in the coming hot weather.
Fed food and paper scraps to my worms; used worm wee on the garden.
Made chilli with very little meat and a large quantity of beans.

stashgrower

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #402 on: September 30, 2017, 03:48:21 AM »
Sleep!

Anatidae V

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #403 on: September 30, 2017, 07:02:41 AM »
We have started using compostable bin bags. Inching closer to not needing or using plastic bags.

Did you find these at Coles / Woolies?
I'm afraid not, I found them online (biome.com.au or wotnot.com.au both sell them). We're using them in our main kitchen bin. I need to find appropriate sizes for our kitty litter trays (litter is made from recycled newspaper) and our nappy bin (we still use a mix of cloth nappies and disposable ones).

frooglepoodle

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #404 on: October 06, 2017, 04:18:21 AM »
I finally ordered a bokashi bin for composting, after struggling to find the stacking kind we were looking for. We gave up on building a wooden bin for the time being, but in the future if we have more yard compost and/or can find inexpensive wood we may build tackle it at that point.

I've packed DH's lunches (mostly leftovers) for the past 18 consecutive work days. Lots of fast food and vending machine wrappers saved, since those are his other two options for work.

I bought some deeply discounted packaged cauliflower florets that were approaching their sell-by date. I peeled off the stickers and washed the plastic tubs, since they'll make good packaging for giving away baked goods.

Our town waste management doesn't collect glass for recycling. Seriously. We've designated a separate bin for glass and will take it to a recycling center when it is full.

Linea_Norway

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #405 on: October 06, 2017, 04:24:49 AM »
Walked to work.

ck25

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #406 on: October 08, 2017, 07:53:25 PM »
I've been really trying to reduce my waste footprint, so here's what I've done today:

- Supported a local vegan restaurant and composted the to-go container.
- Ordered some bamboo forks to use at work instead of plastic disposable ones (my lunch containers are glass so regular stainless steel forks won't work).
- Purchased unpackaged local soap at the co-op.
- Made dinner from local organic produce and pasta bought from a bulk bin

Fresh Bread

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #407 on: October 08, 2017, 08:32:16 PM »
I've been really trying to reduce my waste footprint, so here's what I've done today:

- Supported a local vegan restaurant and composted the to-go container.
- Ordered some bamboo forks to use at work instead of plastic disposable ones (my lunch containers are glass so regular stainless steel forks won't work).
- Purchased unpackaged local soap at the co-op.
- Made dinner from local organic produce and pasta bought from a bulk bin

Bamboo forks are lovely to use but just FYI you can just reuse a plastic fork - I put them in the dishwasher no probs. Hubby takes them in case he loses it at work.

Astatine

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #408 on: October 09, 2017, 01:48:28 AM »
This morning I realised one of my pairs of black leggings that I wear to work (instead of stockings in winter) is starting to wear on the inner thighs, particularly on the seam. Then I also realised I only ever wear my leggings under fitted knee length skirts so figured I will just keep wearing them until they completely fall apart.

Lest I sound bad for not repairing my leggings, I've worn them for 5 winters (problably several hundred times) and the fabric is starting to decay, it's not just the seams going.


My cat is also pretty environmentally friendly when it comes to toys. Toys are important because she is 100% indoors. Her favouritest toy ever is a ribbon from an Xmas pressie from a friend from 3 or 4 years ago. She plays with it every day. Other favourite toys include an empty vitamin bottle, scraps of cardboard, empty boxes and those squishy balls that are giveaways at conference stalls etc. Actual cat toys? Pffft.


frooglepoodle

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #409 on: October 09, 2017, 04:20:00 AM »
I patched my husband's jeans yesterday. They're 100% cotton and will go into the box of denim I'm saving to make a quilt when they're truly worn beyond repair. One of them is close to that point, but the other might make it a while longer.

I ordered some silicone zip-top freezer bags. They were honestly pretty expensive, but I've been doing a lot of freezer cooking lately and hate to throw away the plastic freezer bags. I do wash and reuse plastic bags until they break, but my exception is for bags that have held raw meat (like most of my freezer meals).

My bokashi bin is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow!

HappierAtHome

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #410 on: October 09, 2017, 04:22:39 AM »
Frooglepoodle I'd love a link to the silicone bags you bought!

frooglepoodle

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #411 on: October 09, 2017, 04:28:59 AM »
Frooglepoodle I'd love a link to the silicone bags you bought!

I bought these as I have a few sandwich and snack size bags and the quality seems good. It doesn't appear that they ship to Australia :-(

HappierAtHome

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #412 on: October 09, 2017, 04:44:33 AM »
Frooglepoodle I'd love a link to the silicone bags you bought!

I bought these as I have a few sandwich and snack size bags and the quality seems good. It doesn't appear that they ship to Australia :-(

It's still helpful for my research :-) thank you!

Linea_Norway

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #413 on: October 09, 2017, 06:59:25 AM »
Taking the train to the city this afternoon. So late in the day, the car might have been fast, but is expensive in matters of toll and is difficult to park. Much better taking the train.

Fishindude

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #414 on: October 09, 2017, 08:23:47 AM »
I don't always do the little things.   Don't always recycle, drive a big truck, live in a  bigger house and heat a bigger shop than I need, waste things, etc.
My environmental improvements have been much bigger picture things.   We purchased a 100 acre farm in 1990 that was all bare row crops and totally converted it into wildlife habitat; built two ponds, planted 40,000+ trees, planted 50+ acres of native prairie grass, maintain 20 acres of wildlife food plots, selective timber stand improvements, etc.   Have since purchased another 150 acres in various parcels and now doing similar things with this ground.

coldestcat

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #415 on: October 09, 2017, 10:57:21 AM »
That sounds awesome fishindude.

Right now I take the bus to work. My wife and I try to buy all our food in bulk to avoid packaging waste. main issues for food now are chips and sour cream. We are looking for a car because ours is on its last leg, and trying to keep environmental impact in mind when looking for a car. She is graduating uni next year so if she gets a job downtown on the bus line we will try and survive with no car, but it really depends on where she gets hired.

Tyson

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #416 on: October 10, 2017, 11:53:42 AM »
I convinced my wife to take home made coffee in a reusable travel mug to her coffee date instead of her buying coffee there & having to use/recycle a paper cup. 

HappierAtHome

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #417 on: October 11, 2017, 03:31:34 AM »
Cloth nappies.
Took the bus to my mums' group meetup.
Used a keepcup for my takeaway coffee at the meetup.
Made a pasta bake to use up all the veges that were close to going bad.
Fed the vege scraps to my worms :-)

frooglepoodle

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #418 on: October 11, 2017, 03:43:50 AM »
My bokashi bin arrived and I set it up immediately! I'm very excited since food scraps are one of our biggest sources of waste.

Astatine

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #419 on: October 11, 2017, 05:04:06 AM »
Showering every second day while the weather is still relatively cool.

Fresh Bread

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #420 on: October 11, 2017, 02:00:11 PM »
Showering every second day while the weather is still relatively cool.

That's something I do, but will you lose your Aussie citizenship ;) ? A few years after I moved to Australia a colleague called me a dirty pom for only showering once a day. I had no idea until then that so many people showered twice! And this was in the drought too about ten yrs ago.

Astatine

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #421 on: October 12, 2017, 08:54:33 PM »
Showering every second day while the weather is still relatively cool.

That's something I do, but will you lose your Aussie citizenship ;) ? A few years after I moved to Australia a colleague called me a dirty pom for only showering once a day. I had no idea until then that so many people showered twice! And this was in the drought too about ten yrs ago.

Ha, no (that said, it's not something I've going to 'fess up to at work because I'm not sure of reactions and I already am a bit on the outer with norms regarding hair, makeup, clothing etc).

And wtf?? Yeah, I think I've only ever met one person who showered twice a day and that was because she did 2 big bike rides a day (I still think twice a day is excessive but at least OTT exercise is somewhat of an excuse). Showering once a week in summer would make me cringe, but daily shower = very normal where I live.

HappierAtHome

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #422 on: October 13, 2017, 12:23:13 AM »
BuzzFeed article - test driving some environmentally friendly practices. I've sent this to a few people who want to make changes - it's fairly light and accessible so a bit easier than articles or blogs that focus on the negative impacts of mainstream actions or promote practices that seem more 'extreme'.

Fresh Bread

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #423 on: October 13, 2017, 12:35:41 AM »
BuzzFeed article - test driving some environmentally friendly practices. I've sent this to a few people who want to make changes - it's fairly light and accessible so a bit easier than articles or blogs that focus on the negative impacts of mainstream actions or promote practices that seem more 'extreme'.

Cool article. I'm doing a lot of those things but I struggle with buying loose rice etc. I'm open to it for things that I'll cook but with things I eat raw I don't know whose had their fingers in there..!  Plus when I went to check prices in my local option it was astronomical. There is another option to try and you have to wash your hands at the door :)

stashgrower

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #424 on: October 13, 2017, 03:56:20 AM »
Took public transport
Stacked errands to minimise transportation
Bought bulk goods (not loose rice specifically, but loose other things :))

frooglepoodle

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #425 on: October 13, 2017, 07:28:27 AM »
That’s a great article, Happier! Thanks for sharing!

I realized that I can scrape my son’s unfinished food (things that would be unpalatable to save for later, like granola turned soggy in yogurt) into my bokashi bucket. This has the added benefit of stopping me from finishing it just to keep it from being wasted, which will be better for my waistline.

Stacked errands yesterday to reduce driving.

I discovered that canola oil and a dish scrubbing pad are really effective for removing stubborn label glue from glass jars. 

This weekend we’re going to buy a growler to refill occasionally at our local brewery instead of buying bottled beer.

Thinkum

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #426 on: October 13, 2017, 10:27:44 PM »
Bought some Spaghetti scrubs that are made of recycled corn cobs and peach pits. No more disgusting and extremely wasteful kitchen sponges. They work really good so far and because they are like a loofah, they make a lot of bubbles out of a little bit of soap. So saving money and waste of sponges and excess soap.

EngineeringFI

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #427 on: October 13, 2017, 10:47:59 PM »
Here are a few things that I've done in the last few months:

1. Switched my electricity billing to "time of day" then reconfigured my thermostat to only cool the house on off-peak hours. I also moved any "phantom power" users to outlets that are switched so I can turn them off when I leave for work. This shifted almost all my power usage off the grid peak times and helps the utility company not to fire up less efficient generators to meet peak demand.

2. Reconfigured my home theater PC, TV, and stereo settings to minimize power consumption. I used a power meter from amazon to check the before and after power consumption and was able to cut it by 50%

3. Started composting! I want free dirt for my garden so now I keep a little bin in my kitchen to collect food scraps, and add them to the larger compost bin about once a week.

4. Had an additional 8 inches of insulation blown into my attic to bring the insulation above R38. This will matter more when Tucson starts to cool off in a month or two.

jengod

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #428 on: October 14, 2017, 11:47:07 AM »
Used our stash of cloth napkins for breakfast table this morning: blue tropical design for the grownups and Thomas the Train for the kids

EngineeringFI

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #429 on: October 14, 2017, 01:24:43 PM »
Used our stash of cloth napkins for breakfast table this morning: blue tropical design for the grownups and Thomas the Train for the kids

Nice! Paper napkins make no sense to me!

HappierAtHome

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #430 on: October 16, 2017, 07:49:43 PM »
Baby is wearing cloth nappies.
I'm wearing cloth pads.
Thanks to jengod, I'm looking up how to sew my own napkins!

Poundwise

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #431 on: October 17, 2017, 06:46:07 AM »
Baby is wearing cloth nappies.
I'm wearing cloth pads.
Thanks to jengod, I'm looking up how to sew my own napkins!

Great reminder for me... I have all these leftover materials from sewing cloth diapers... I should just make them into feminine pads!

Linea_Norway

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #432 on: October 17, 2017, 01:48:45 PM »
Recharged some rechargable batteries. Also recharging a big headlight as I plan to walk to work tomorrow. Fuck the fact that someone might expect me to arrive at work at 8 o'clock, as I am not officially called into a meeting. The weather will be quite nice tomorrow and I should use the opportunity to exercise.

Anatidae V

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #433 on: October 18, 2017, 03:22:13 AM »
Our local council has given us another bin, so now we split our recycling, our food & organic waste and our general rubbish. I am glad we're doing cloth nappies or I'm not sure we'd have enough space in the general rubbish bin.

frooglepoodle

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #434 on: October 18, 2017, 01:41:59 PM »
Made homemade chicken stock using the leftover poaching liquid, the carcass, and vegetable scraps. All the solids are going into compost now.

I cleared a bunch of old (some of them 10+ years old) t-shirts out of my drawers that no longer fit and cut them up for cleaning rags.

Simmering orange peels, cloves, and cardamom pods on the stove. I'm not sure how the energy consumption of the stovetop compares to burning a candle, but at least it doesn't involve synthetic fragrances (and I can compost the orange peels at the end of the day).

DH has to travel for work for a few days. Sent him with lots of homemade goodies (granola, crispy roasted chickpeas, and cookies) in reusable containers since he likes to snack.

Linea_Norway

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #435 on: October 18, 2017, 05:10:50 PM »
Walked to work and back again.

Have been using cloth towels at dinner for months now.

Have been using cloth ladies towels now and like them better than the paper ones. Combining sometimes with a silicon cup.
« Last Edit: October 19, 2017, 01:16:08 AM by Linda_Norway »

HappierAtHome

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #436 on: October 18, 2017, 05:36:34 PM »
Made homemade chicken stock using the leftover poaching liquid, the carcass, and vegetable scraps. All the solids are going into compost now.

Homemade stock is on my list to learn!

Posting to follow! I've been appalled at the rate I'm going through paper towels lately, and in a stroke of luck, my mom donated her old sewing machine to my cause, so I'm finally getting around to making cloth napkins.

Welcome to the thread :-)

Fresh Bread

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #437 on: October 18, 2017, 05:36:53 PM »
I've soaked some shredded paper for the worm farm. Hopefully this can be an ongoing chain of turning waste paper to worm food and eventually to human food.

HappierAtHome

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #438 on: October 18, 2017, 05:39:09 PM »
I have to drive today, so I'm combining trips to minimise fuel use. One of the errands is grocery shopping, where I'll be using cloth bags for fruit and veges and trying to minimise the plastic packaging of other food items.

Today or tomorrow I'll order my bulk seeds and nuts. Ordering in bulk cuts down on packaging considerably.

bucketsofrain

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #439 on: October 18, 2017, 08:02:44 PM »
  • set up a three tier composting system for my apartment kitchen so I can finally compost my food scraps/paper waste. Just waiting for my worms to come!
  • walked 3 miles to a doctor's appointment
  • brought a refillable water bottle with me to the doctor so I wouldn't be tempted to buy a water bottle

Anatidae V

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #440 on: October 21, 2017, 06:48:38 AM »
Anyone tried this? Thought I might get some and see if it's as versatile as they claim:
https://www.thewellstore.com.au/products/agreena-3-in-1-eco-wraps-4-pack

HappierAtHome

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #441 on: October 21, 2017, 07:20:27 AM »
Anyone tried this? Thought I might get some and see if it's as versatile as they claim:
https://www.thewellstore.com.au/products/agreena-3-in-1-eco-wraps-4-pack

If they really can work as baking paper I want some!

Linea_Norway

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #442 on: October 21, 2017, 09:10:45 AM »
I planned making a trip further away from home, but decided to visit the forest in my neighbourhood instead. Saved an amount of diesel, but ended up with dog shit under my boot, which is not the first time.
DH wanted to go shopping in the big city and took the train. He only came home with stuff we have use for, apart for the bunch of flowers that he bought on sale. Otherwise just food and some woolen undershirts that we use weekly.

frooglepoodle

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #443 on: November 04, 2017, 01:20:20 PM »
I chopped up our jack-o-lantern this morning and tossed it in the compost pile. Next year, it will help us grow more pumpkins!

We signed up for a raw milk herdshare (directly purchasing raw milk from a farmer is illegal here, so basically we leasing a portion of a cow for a 1-year term) and I opted to get our share in glass mason jars instead of plastic jugs.


crimwell

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #444 on: November 05, 2017, 12:35:59 AM »
.
- Ordered some bamboo forks to use at work instead of plastic disposable ones (my lunch containers are glass so regular stainless steel forks won't work).


Why won't regular forks work? I must be missing something

I use glass snapware containers to take my lunch (most days I'm eating leftovers ) and I use cheap steel Walmart fork/spoon/knife to eat out of them. I've never noticed a problem. What an I doing wrong?

Astatine

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #445 on: November 05, 2017, 04:02:19 AM »
I'm very proud of this one :) I'm catering a picnic morning tea for about 30 people (give or take - could be as low as 20) next weekend and didn't have enough bowls/containers etc that would be suitable to serve all the food in.

I managed to buy 9 large plastic bowls and various containers (2 with lids), all secondhand for $5 total. :D

I see it as renting serving containers for a small price. Once I'm done with them I'll take them to the reuse/recycle shed at the rubbish tip and someone else can buy them to use. Much better than buying disposable containers and less fuss than borrowing them from friends (don't need to worry if they get a bit trashed or lost or have to remember what belongs to who).

mustachepungoeshere

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #446 on: November 13, 2017, 03:17:45 PM »
I try to avoid printing where possible but, working in an office, sometimes it is a necessary evil, so I use the Print Friendly exension for Chrome.

It lets you review a web page and remove anything unnecessary, e.g. I often reduce a four-page news story down to a single page by deleting photos, links to related stories, comment boxes, etc.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/print-friendly-pdf/ohlencieiipommannpdfcmfdpjjmeolj?hl=en

HappierAtHome

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #447 on: November 24, 2017, 04:00:45 AM »
We're using sized cloth nappies, and today I purchased the next size up (Black Friday sale even though I'm in Australia where we don't celebrate Thanksgiving...) so we can continue using cloth as the baby grows.

Also purchased a cloth swim nappy! If that works out well, we can avoid using disposable swim nappies when we start weekly lessons.

frooglepoodle

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #448 on: November 24, 2017, 05:21:38 AM »
Did NOT fly 3000 miles to visit family for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Made a large portion of our Thanksgiving dinner using local ingredients. We have planned uses for the leftovers of our 13 lb turkey.

I bought a sweater stone to defuzz my wool sweaters to keep them looking nice. I have found a safety razor less effective for this task than a cartridge razor, but I no longer use cartridge razors.

Running the heat on a fairly low temperature (60F overnight and 64F during the day) and wearing a sweatshirt and slippers inside.

Rollin

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Re: What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?
« Reply #449 on: November 24, 2017, 05:50:20 AM »
That’s a great article, Happier! Thanks for sharing!

I realized that I can scrape my son’s unfinished food (things that would be unpalatable to save for later, like granola turned soggy in yogurt) into my bokashi bucket. This has the added benefit of stopping me from finishing it just to keep it from being wasted, which will be better for my waistline.

Stacked errands yesterday to reduce driving.

I discovered that canola oil and a dish scrubbing pad are really effective for removing stubborn label glue from glass jars. 

This weekend we’re going to buy a growler to refill occasionally at our local brewery instead of buying bottled beer.

Not that I have anything to do with it, but our local brew pubs are recycling their waste hops, etc. Pretty cool in my book. Maybe inquire if they could do the same?

On another note, I was planning on starting a "Last Straw" campaign and emailed myself at lunch to get started in my local community. The DW and I went to dinner that night and the restaurant had written across a large chalk board "Our Last Straw." They already kicked it off! I talked with the owner and thanked her for her efforts. Same thing (sorta) happened on changing out our street lights to LEDs. i was going to get the data etc to convince the local commission of the benefits, but
i got delayed. Lo and behold there were crews down my street changing them out! Maybe the thoughts helped?
« Last Edit: November 24, 2017, 05:54:22 AM by Rollin »